Perhaps the iPhone Security and Password lock isn't worth it, but then again...

A while back I wrote about iPhone security, and why you should always passcode lock your iPhone. I still do it, even if it's a bit of a pain sometimes.

But this latest report about the iPhone's security is pretty worrying. Free software and even a YouTube video explaining how to bypass all of the iPhone's security, including its much lauded data encryption (a new feature which you have to enable in iTunes). It's on the front page of lots of news sites, including SMH. From "iPhone encryption proven to be useless":

‘‘I don’t think any of us [developers] have ever seen encryption implemented so poorly before, which is why it’s hard to describe why it’s such a big threat to security,’’ said Zdziarski, an iPhone app developer, who also specialises in iPhone forensics.

Not good. Hopefully Apple will address this problem soon. The iPhone's push into the enterprise will take a hammering if there's a significant data theft somewhere because of slack enrcyption systems.

Despite the problems, I'm hoping, optimistically perhaps, that this guy is right (also fro SMH):

Alan Hashem, director of Sydney-based IT consultancy Insight IT, has provided iPhones to about 12 of the company’s 15 staff, four of whom have the new iPhone 3G S model. They use the devices to access clients’ computers remotely and fix technical support issues.

Hashem said he was concerned about the iPhone’s security vulnerabilities but did not think there was a high chance that someone with the skills to perform Zdziarski’s hack would steal his employees' iPhones.

He said the handset’s features and third-party applications made it worth the risk.

‘‘We’re at a lot more risk with computers and desktops,’’ he said.

It's a shame we have to weigh up the risks. Nothing is 100% secure, sure, and most will not have the skills to hack the device, so I'll still keep the password on. But I wish we could feel a bit more confident in it.